Using this option you can set a message that is automatically sent to the sender of a message that is personally addressed to you. Typically it is used to alert a sender that you are away (not necessarily on vacation) and will be replying after you return. There is also an associated log file that lists people who have been trying to contact you in your absence (and also prevents duplicate messages being sent out). This is the Vacation Log and is accessed from the main Account Management screen.
When you first enter this screen, it will look like this:-
If you already have a vacation message in place the form will show your current message and the Enable Vacation Message box will be checked.
If you have a manually maintained .forward file on __SERVICE__ this cannot be updated from this interface. In this case the you will not see the form but a status message reading
Error: Manually maintained .forward file?
To make changes to a manually maintained file you will need to connect to __SERVICE__ using an SSH or Telnet client and use the menu interface.
Vacation messages are only sent out in response to "personal" messages which have been sent directly to your __SERVICE__ account, rather than via mailing lists or other means. This is determined by looking to see whether your email address appears in the "To:" and "Cc:" headers of a message.
The Aliases dialogue can be used to define a comma separated list of additional email addresses which will trigger vacation messages in this way. This is normally used in conjunction with "friendly" email address associated with an institution.
If you do not already have a vacation message then check the Enable Vacation Message box, enter your text into the form immediately beneath it and finally select the Apply button. You will be returned to the main Account Management screen.
If you have a message and wish to change it just make the relevant changes in the form and select the Apply button. Make sure that you have cleared the Vacation log so that the new message can also be sent to people who have previously received the old message.
If you do not wish to save any changes then select Cancel at any point and you will be returned to the main Account Management screen.
Uncheck the Enable Vacation Message box and select the Apply button. You will also need to clear the Vacation log so that if you re-enable a vacation message in future the new message will be sent to everyone, including people who are listed in the log, and who received the old message.